Make iPhones in the US not China, Vietnam: Donald Trump tells Apple CEO Tim Cook

Donald Trump has not always been an Apple Inc. fan, especially while running for the President of the United States. However, the President-elect has said that he spoke to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates after the win.

During the infamous battle between Apple and FBI regarding data security, Donald Trump had tweeted and spoken against the company calling for a boycott of its products. Funnily enough, the boycott calls were made using his Apple iPhone. (Pic: Reuters)

Donald Trump has not always been an Apple Inc. fan, especially while running for the President of the United States. However, the President-elect has said that he spoke to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates after the win. In an interaction with The New York Times, Trump talked about the content of the calls, of which the newspaper has put out a transcript. During the infamous battle between Apple and FBI regarding data security, Trump had tweeted and spoken against the company calling for a boycott of its products. Funnily enough, the boycott calls were made using his Apple iPhone. He had also said that he will make Apple make its ‘damned computers’ in the USA and not in China. Amidst all the fights, Apple CEO Tim Cook was said to have called Trump after the election results. NYT quoted Trump as saying, “I was honoured yesterday, I got a call from Bill Gates, great call, we had a great conversation. I got a call from Tim Cook at Apple.”

Trump revealed that he told Apple CEO, Tim Cook, to build plants and products in the US. He said, “Tim, you know one of the things that will be a real achievement for me is when I get Apple to build a big plant in the United States, or many big plants in the United States, where instead of going to China, and going to Vietnam, and going to the places that you go to, you’re making your product right here.” Meanwhile, Tim Cook said he understands that, and Trump said that the company would be given incentives in the form of ‘very large tax cuts’. Trump had said, “But we’re going for big tax cuts, we have to get rid of regulations, regulations are making it impossible. Whether you’re liberal or conservative, I mean I could sit down and show you regulations that anybody would agree are ridiculous. It’s gotten to be a free-for-all. And companies can’t, they can’t even start up, they can’t expand, they are choking.”

According to Japanese website Nikkei Asian Review, Foxconn, the manufacturing partner for Apple was studying the probability of moving production of the iPhones to the US. But it will not be an easy task to move the labour and well-settled supply chains from China and Vietnam. Tim Cook had earlier reportedly said that China is a preferable manufacturing place because of the ‘skill’ not ‘wages’. This makes the thought of such a drastic change a bit of a stretch even with new political pressures.